Thoughts of a Mrs. Modern-Day Mountain Woman Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Every individual man is an important part of the company.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” - Colossians 3:23-24

I enjoy hard work. It’s fun working hard and getting dirty to complete a job. The jobs that most people don’t enjoy, I find oddly enjoyable. Working to serve others with my hands is my skill. I love teaching others, but I love seeing a task completed by the works of my hands almost more.

Whenever my sisters and I had to do an unpleasant task or chore, my mom would say, “you’re earning jewels in your crown”. When we get to heaven someday, that will be reward enough for us, we don’t need a bejeweled crown. What my mom was teaching us though, was to aim higher. Think of your heavenly reward and whom you are serving when you work hard and show love to those in need.

There are so many times in a day that we push off work onto someone else or leave it behind for later when we know that “later” means another person. Every person in the church is an equal part and member of the body of Christ and therefore has a very important job in the commission given by Jesus, to go and make disciples of every nation. If every member of the Church took an equal responsibility to serve God and further His word and mission, the world would be a much better place to live. While each member is different and has different abilities, they are each vitally important to the task and not delaying until later. In life, and with the mission of Christ, later is always too late.

Every piece is a part of the whole body.

Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player in the 1880’s. He became one of the most influential evangelist of the early 20th century. He once said, “If you don’t do your part, don’t blame God.” If he didn’t train hard enough at baseball or work well enough as a team member, he realized it was no one else’s fault but his own. If we don’t work hard enough or teach well enough, we have no reason to blame God. Jesus called us to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them all of God’s commandments, and He would be with us to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). This world is short on disciples and big on blame. Too often people blame others and God for the wrong that is happening or for the “unfair” events that are happening. We were given a call to go and teach others the truth about God and to spread His truths so all may know Him and His love. If we don’t fill this earth with the goodness of God, we have only ourselves to blame. If we put off the task until later, we are already too late and the lives and souls of many will be lost.

The mountain man of the past would know to help others and complete a task, at the risk of losing the physical life of another trader or trapper. The Christian of the present should know to help others and finish the commission to save the spiritual life of another human.